Babies drool, particularly when they’re teething. Sometimes it’s hard to see how much they’re drooling, but when parents identify that their child is drooling excessively, it’s usually obvious and noticeable.

If you think your child may be drooling excessively, be sure to cross reference additional symptoms to rule out the possibility of a birth injury.

Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy is a neurological disorder that can be caused by brain damage withstood at childbirth.

One of the affected muscular functions could be oral muscular control, which, in essence, causes the child to drool nearly constantly. This is called sialorrhea or hypersalivation; the inability to close one’s mouth to prevent near constant drooling or salivation.

Before you assume that your child has cerebral palsy, however, take into consideration the other symptoms of the disorder, such as writhing muscular movements, spastic or uncontrolled movements, difficulty sucking or eating, stiff muscles, or inconsistency in muscle tone. Excessive drooling alone is not indicative of cerebral palsy.

Bell’s Palsy

Bell’s palsy is a nerve disorder affecting one half of the face. If your child has Bell’s palsy, it should be somewhat apparent from one droopy eyelid on the same side of the face as the drooling, an excessively dry eye on the affected side, a sensitivity to sound, and a paralysis in the facial muscles on that side of the face.

Fortunately, Bell’s palsy is a temporary condition and can be treated with medication such as Cortiocosteroid or Acyclovir.

Symptoms Are Different from Side Effects

Diazapam is often used as a medication to treat some of the symptoms of cerebral palsy. Sometimes parents or physicians recognize that a side effect of diazepam is excessive drooling, something that the cerebral palsy patient may not have experienced before the medication. It’s important to recognize that side effects and symptoms are different. While drooling is often a side effect of cerebral palsy, drooling in response to a drug like diazepam is known as a side effect.

In cases of either cerebral palsy or Bell’s palsy, the drooling is often caused as a muscular response to the status of the brain. With both palsies, the brain does not send the muscles the proper executive orders thus leading the muscles to work incorrectly or to be paralyzed.

When these facial muscles don’t move as they should, they have the inability to keep the patient’s mouth closed and to contain his or her saliva. Since the mouth is constantly evacuating the natural fluid, the body may be producing more saliva to overcompensate, and the child may be dehydrated as a result, so if your child exhibits this symptom, be sure to keep them thoroughly hydrated.